Between pub-crawls, fundraising runs, a solid month of horror movies, and the government shutdown, I am zombied out.  It’s not just this time of year, though.  Zombies attack year-round and have a special knack for lurking in unaware organizations.  That’s when they scare me the most.  In general, I find zombies to be vacant, unapproachable, lacking self-actualization, and generally poor conversationalists.  While zombies can be hilarious, they are largely doom and gloom, and there are no win/win scenarios when zombies are involved.  They can mask their appearance for a period of time, but sooner or later their presence is obvious.

Are you and your leadership team feeding a zombie-like state of being in your organization, or are you actively protecting against a brain-eating invasion?  Here’s how we’ve helped leaders purge zombies from within:

Zombie slaying requires personal effectiveness.  As the CEO and protector of the enterprise, how you show up influences all aspects of the organization.  Having courage to examine and accept your strengths and blind spots, and developing leaders around you, repels zombies.  Zombies are void of self-awareness.  They have no idea the impact of their actions on others, or the terror their presence can inflict on the masses, and they do not take responsibility for their actions.  Your effectiveness as a leader can expose lurking zombies or even create a zombie-free zone, but you can’t do it alone.  It takes a….

Team approach to ward off Zombies.  An aligned leadership team that understands vision, strategy, and is holistic in its execution and approach strengthens the likelihood that trance-like creatures will be weeded out.  Even though zombies sometimes travel in groups, they are singularly focused on their own needs.  A united front is cause for concern for them.  But zombies are also in survival mode and often find ways to stick around or recruit other zombies from within so even a cohesive team isn’t quite enough.  You also need…

Warriors for today and tomorrow.  Zombies don’t really die, so it’s an on-going battle to purge existing ones and prevent new ones from entering an organization. Consistently building highly effective leadership teams that know where the organization is going, understand why they do what they do, and develop emerging leaders creates a protective force shield zombies hate.  Zombies lack focus and direction so consistently exposing them to clarity and holding them accountable for their actions can send them on their way.

Please contact us if you’d like help warding off a zombie plague in your organization.  We’ve had great results in helping CEOs and their leadership teams gain the momentum needed to combat zombie invasions.